Chapter Forty-Nine The Three-Story Building

Lin Miaomiao understood that within any enterprise, some degree of competition is inevitable, and if not properly managed, such competition can turn malignant.

Once the matters at the factory were settled, the Mid-Autumn Festival arrived unnoticed. To mark the occasion, Lin Miaomiao had the village butcher slaughter several pigs and sheep. These animals came from her own farm, where she raised twenty pigs and twenty sheep. She had hired Zhao’s eldest son, Gou Dan, to tend to the livestock. Lin Miaomiao paid Gou Dan a monthly wage of one hundred coins. Upon learning this, Zhao herself came to Lin Miaomiao’s house to express her deep gratitude. Lin Miaomiao told her, “Your son is diligent. I feel at ease having him look after my pigs and sheep.”

Thus, Gou Dan officially became one of Lin Miaomiao’s workers. At first, Lin Miaomiao felt uneasy about employing child labor, but in ancient times, fourteen was already considered adulthood. In truth, there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. Lin Miaomiao saw that Zhao’s family’s circumstances had improved significantly. Zhao herself had become a workshop supervisor, earning five hundred coins a month. Gou Dan’s wage of one hundred coins for managing the livestock made them, by the standards of this poor mountain village, a family of means.

Lin Miaomiao had pigs and sheep slaughtered and distributed meat to the workers, who also made pastries for the festival. Each worker brought home three catties of pastries and two catties of meat. The benefits at both the hotpot seasoning factory and the pastry workshop were the same: a catty of pork, a catty of mutton, and three catties of pastries.

Watching the workers happily carrying their bountiful parcels home, Lin Miaomiao gazed at her burgeoning factory and couldn’t help but smile. The weather had turned bitterly cold in recent days, and Lin Miaomiao realized that winter was quietly approaching. In the evenings, she and Cuiliu would cook dinner together in the kitchen. With so many people at home, Lin Miaomiao had to help with the meals. Ruoyu and Lanzhi now served as factory managers, and each day they would bring the accounts to Anqi for review. Only after Anqi—now known as Lin Qi—had audited them was the bookkeeping complete. Lin Qi would summarize all the ledgers as Lin Miaomiao had taught him, then submit them to her.

Lin Miaomiao would examine the final reports and the balance on hand. She was now immensely grateful to her mother, who had once forced her to earn an accounting certificate, an ordeal she had resisted with all her might. Lin Miaomiao remembered how her mother had pushed her to earn not only the accounting certificate but also a computer certificate and pass the College English exams... Now, she reflected that although only the accounting certificate was still useful, she was suddenly thankful for her mother’s words: “As long as you excel, wherever you go, people will look at you differently.”

That evening, Lin Miaomiao made shumai for dinner. She hadn’t had shumai in a long time; back in college, she would often see them sold at the food stalls near the university gates. She used to buy them occasionally, though sometimes she would forgo them, as the portions were too generous and she could never finish them. Besides, shumai grew tiresome if eaten too often.

Lost in thought, Lin Miaomiao was startled when the two children, Lin Langluan and Lin Langze, returned from the academy. They tossed the schoolbags she had made for them onto the stone table in the courtyard. Lin Miaomiao glanced at them and said, “Put your schoolbags on your desks in your rooms, then do your homework.” As she spoke these words, she suddenly felt a surge of maternal instinct, recalling how her own mother used to urge her in much the same way.

The two children were not afraid of her at all; instead, they clung to her, chattering, “Sister, sister, our teacher praised us today!”

Lin Miaomiao patted their heads and said, “Were you really that well-behaved?” Lin Langluan and Lin Langze looked up at her with wide eyes, nodding, “Yes, we really were.” Ever since Lin Miaomiao had taken them in, the two children had learned to speak properly, use chopsticks, dress themselves, wash their faces, and brush their teeth. Watching them, Lin Miaomiao glanced at the distant trees, now shedding their leaves, and sighed, “Winter is coming.”

A year had passed in the blink of an eye. Lin Miaomiao’s third factory, a textile mill, had also been completed. To ease the burden on Li Yanhe, she built a residence specifically for workers. With changes in national policy, more and more people were settling in Daankou. Yet most of these settlers were poor, with little money and only barren land to their name.

Demand for spices was high at Lin Miaomiao’s enterprises, so she sent Lin Qi to negotiate with the village heads about developing animal husbandry and planting spices, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. After the textile mill was built, Li Yanhe recruited several skilled weavers. In truth, weaving and dyeing cloth in ancient times was a simple affair.

Lin Miaomiao told Li Yanhe, “My textile mill can employ wounded soldiers. Their job will be to dye fabric.” She added, “Once their families arrive, the women can work in the factory spinning and sewing clothes.” Li Yanhe hadn’t expected Lin Miaomiao to provide jobs for these people. He had hoped the court would allocate funds to support the soldiers, but his proposal had not been adopted, leaving him at a loss as to how to settle the wounded men.

Lin Miaomiao continued, “If any of them can read and keep accounts, I can promote them to supervisors. But regardless of status, everyone must start at the bottom; in this way, people come to know each other’s character, and there are no issues when it comes time to select managers.” Li Yanhe nodded in agreement.

The textile mill was built near the city adjacent to Daankou, just two hours away by carriage. This city had originally been part of Daankou’s domain but had become a separate town due to boundary changes.

The next day, after military drills, Li Yanhe addressed the soldiers on the drill ground. “When your families arrive, the women can work at the Lin Family Garment Factory. This is a special arrangement from Manager Lin for you frontier soldiers. The factory has built housing specifically for your womenfolk.” He glanced at the excited soldiers and went on, “Those whose families arrive in the coming days may take leave in batches, settle your families into the temporary factory accommodations, and return to camp at once.”

The soldiers couldn’t hide their joy. In the following days, soldiers began taking leave to bring their families to Lin Miaomiao’s garment factory.

Lin Qi stood at the factory gate, leading the soldiers and their families to the new lodgings Lin Miaomiao had built for them, modeled on modern dormitories—a three-story building with many rooms, each with a handle on the door for locking. Once everyone was assembled in the yard, Lin Miaomiao sat at the gatehouse, holding the locks and keys. The women gaped in surprise when they saw her, and the soldiers greeted her respectfully as Manager Lin. Lin Miaomiao smiled and nodded, distributing the keys to the women.

The rooms were spacious, with a bedroom and a central dining area. The matter of toilets was tricky—Lin Miaomiao couldn’t design them after modern standards, but she had built public latrines nearby, like those at her old school.

Lin Qi showed the soldiers and their families around the area. Seeing their new, tidy quarters—even if a little small—brought them joy, for their previous homes had always been thatched huts. Li Yanhe came by to inspect the new building and nodded his approval. Once their families were settled, the soldiers had to return to camp immediately, and in the following days, more families arrived.

Lin Miaomiao had built only one three-story building, and soon all the rooms were occupied. Some soldiers’ families had no place to stay, and since the factory couldn’t employ everyone yet, Lin Miaomiao could only apologize. The families grew anxious, but fortunately, she had already instructed Lin Qi to begin work on two more three-story buildings. Though construction was incomplete and there were many people, it was impossible to house them all at once.

A month later, the second building was finished, and those families moved in. Lin Miaomiao said nothing more. Most of the soldiers’ families were destitute. The next day, she gathered them in the courtyard and addressed them: “Ladies, I know you have come from afar and have nowhere to live. You may stay in this three-story building for the time being.” She paused, then continued, “I have a factory, but it cannot employ so many people at once.”

The families stirred at her words, and Lin Miaomiao gestured for silence.